Translating Comics: It’s Not Just in the Bubble

It was at a comics festival in Algeria that Canan first learned about the Paris massacre of 17 October 1961 against Algerians. It took the few pages of a comic to connect a total stranger to an event that seemed to have been forgotten across Europe and to create empathy. As a medium, comics allow the most difficult stories to reach new audiences; comics are made everywhere and for everyone. And once you take them out of their bubbles, allow them to circulate freely through translation, you can open up spaces of interaction, debate and creativity.

A talk on translating comics by Canan Marasligil, followed by a Q&A.

About Canan Marasligil

Canan Marasligil is a writer, literary translator, editor, podcaster and curator based in Amsterdam. Her interest is in challenging official narratives and advocating freedom of expression through a wide range of creative projects and activities, from literature to film and comics. She is the creator of City in Translation, a project exploring languages and translation in urban spaces, and a co-host of the Not Loud Enough podcast, with migrationlab founder Laura M Pana. Canan has worked with cultural organisations across wider Europe and has participated in residencies at the Free Word Centre in London (2013), at WAAW in Senegal (2015), at Copenhagen University (2015), at La Contre Allée in Lille (2017) and at Lancaster University (2018). She is currently writing a book on the act of translation for French publisher La Contre Allée.www.cananmarasligil.net
Twitter: @ayserin Instagram: @cananmarasligil

In association with the British Centre for Literary Translation and supported by the European Commission

It was at a comics festival in Algeria that Canan first learned about the Paris massacre of 17 October 1961 against Algerians. It took the few pages of a comic to connect a total stranger to an event that seemed to have been forgotten across Europe and to create empathy. As a medium, comics allow the most difficult stories […]